Tag Archives: gross

Most people visit Ananda Phaya to see the massive gold Buddha. I'm not surprised: it's remarkable.
But hidden in a side-alcove, propped up in the ceiling, I couldn't help noticing a series of paintings. Gloriously gore-filled paintings of demons wreaking havoc on mortals: boulders rolling over bloody victims, body parts dangling from coatracks, quartered corpses ...

The Beijing Penis Restaurant, officially known as Guolizhuang, doesn't just serve cock. You can get absolutely anything there.
Stewed Deer Face. Sheep foetus in brown garlic sauce. Peacock claws. It's like a Guangzhouren's wet dream.
And the peacock's name was as poetic as the plating. It was called A Set of Palms from Heaven ...

"Why not start today with a plate of freshly-fried old enema," I thought. It was bright, garish, and advertised on the wall. "It must be good."
It wasn't.
Dripping in oil and yet crispy enough to snap a molar, it tasted like a bad plate of pork cracklings. The dipping sauce -- chopped garlic in ...

"I'll have the AIDS soup," I said.
It wasn't officially called AIDS soup. Not now. Shortly after I'd blogged about their deviant menus, the restaurant had crossed out every appearance of the word "AIDS" with a sharpie. Now it was simply "Strong Tibetan Sheep Placenta Nourishing Soup [XXXX]."
Still a mouthful.
But I'd had a few beers, ...

The first time I ever met The Professor, he told me about the eunuch museum. He didn't say much. Just that there was one. In West Beijing.
"You really should go," he said. "It's... well, it's interesting." He adjusted his glasses the way a professor should, but he wouldn't say more. ...

That's twice I've seen guys on my street wearing the Nazi iron cross.
The first was an office worker on lunch break. He was dressed in a handsome suit, but in place of a tie wore a heavy Nazi cross. He saw me staring, and he smiled. I think he thought it looked dapper. ...

"That's possibly the worst idea I've ever heard."
Michelle didn't use these words lightly. She didn't say this when I'd suggested we fly across the country to a park staffed by 108 dwarfs, or we hand-feed live animals to hungry tigers, or we train to become professional taxidermists.
But evidently Michelle has her limits, too. ...

Singapore is bland. It's a high-priced row of shopping malls and fine eateries, with a few hawker markets thrown in. "It's soooooo boring," warned my hairdresser Miss P.
But then you stumble on something like this. The Tiger Balm Gardens: The most disturbing theme park of all time.
There's sex, violence, bear-maulings and scabies. ...

It finally happened. We ordered the horse sashimi.
"You want what?" said the waiter, unsure.
"Horse meat," I slurred in Chinese, that last bottle of sake harming my already-poor pronunciation. "Raw horse meat."
The waiter looked at WooLand, who wasn't listening, and then at me, and he finally shrugged and wrote it down. Clearly ...

Yang Shaorong lives in a small Shanghai apartment. He collects women's shoes. Tiny shoes. Shoes for bound feet.
"That's horrible," said the publisher of my magazine, when I mentioned Yang the collector to him. "It's a disturbing part of Chinese history."
I was confused. I didn't really know much about them, or why he was so upset. ...

How could you pass this by? That's advertising, all right!
Unlike I Dismember Mama, that old grindhouse yawner, this Guangzhou 海鲜 palace was as gory as promised. I only wish they'd handed out barf bags like the movie theaters did. This time, they would have actually been useful!
Like any number of ...

"It's not terrible." "No, it's not terrible." "Yep, it's onion alright." "Hrm." "Ew." "服务员，来一听可乐。（Waitress, can I have a Coke?）" "Every time my dad pours a nice glass of wine, he always says 'magnificent color.' Hrm. This doesn't have that, does it? Not at all." "It is a bit watery, isn't ...

A few weeks ago, I posted about the Incredible Taoist Gods -- cool court officers tasked with enforcing rules of life and the afterlife.
Well, to further display how far traditional Taoism strays from the mystical romance of the Tao Te Ching, here are some of the darker views of the Taoist "Way."
I found ...

So the rapture left you behind, eh? Feeling cheated? Looking for a new deity?
Try Taoism. These gods will kick your ass!
Okay, maybe not all of them. Some, like this swarthy fellow, will just make sure when you're reborn, you'll get your deserved rank. Fail to accomplish enough good in this ...

A couple of days ago, I posted my favorite pictures of cute Korean cosplay girls -- but that's the light-hearted side of Korean cosplay. Flip the switch -- today it's time for the dark half. That's right: Korean Nazis!
Now many of you are probably horrified. It's still too recent. But the Koreans love ...

Now that we have our Chinese taxidermy certificates, Woo and I needed to get stuffing.A woman in Qingdao, after hours of discussions, agreed to send a friend to Beijing with a box of frozen rats. He took the all-night bus, and showed up with a dripping styrofoam box. "I got confused, and lost, and they ...

I was a little confused about the Tokyo airport when I flew through there a few weeks ago. It seemed so... rundown. Ceiling tiles missing, chairs blocking entrances, stores closed. And then I saw this sign. Uh-oh. What had I missed during my media blockout?
Turns out the third reactor was ...

Just like the baijiu-soaked deer penis, earthworms are a legendarily royal remedy here in China. They're not even called worms, but something far more royal: Earth Dragons (地龙).
It all started with Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, who ruled China from 960 to 976. Apparently, he had a wretched case of shingles. All of the ...